IMMIGRANT IDENTITY CRISIS IN THE COMPLETE PERSEPOLIS COMIC BY MARJANE SATRAPI
F. Maulida
123English Literature, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta e-mail: [email protected]
This study discovered how the main character in The Complete Persepolis comic – Marjane Satrapi – negotiates her identity as a diaspora. This research employs the qualitative method as the technique to analyze the data. The collected data are presented in the form of pictures and texts related to the research objectives. Furthermore, the data were then analyzed using the theory of Hybridity. Based on the research findings, Marjane’s migration is the main cause of the emergence of her identity crisis. After her migration, she feels like her identity is divided into two different cultures; the culture from her homeland and the culture from where she migrated. However, Marjane eventually is able to negotiate her identity. She is aware of and accepts her in-between identity which resulted from an assimilation of both cultures.
Keywords: Diaspora; Hybrid Identity; Third Space
1. INTRODUCTION
Migration is often chosen as a solution for people living in conflicted areas. The movement of people to a new state or region in search of jobs or better living conditions is known as migration. The biggest contributing factors to the migration phenomenon are war, occupation, and specific distinction in religion, ethnicity, nationality, and political stance. The massive danger of living in conflicted areas forces people to leave their home country in order to be able to live their life in a better environment. Moving out to another country is definitely not a light decision to take, nevertheless, to stay in conflicted areas seem to come with much worse consequences. Choosing migration offers hopes and opportunities for these people to make the new place as a home.
The people who have experienced migration can be addressed as diaspora. The fundamental concept of diaspora refers to people that renounce their indigenous country to another country to settle permanently. This concept also implies that the reference to culture of origin remains relevant, although likely to be continuously processed and changed according to cultural dynamics that occur in the new settlements (Georgiou, 2001, p. 4).
Diasporic communities are at the same time the local and international forms of social organization (Gloria, 2004, p. 10).
Many diaspora then dedicated themselves to documenting their life journey through writings. Their writing is a representation of coping mechanisms to either find themselves in their ambiguous life or to provide an idea regarding diaspora experience. As they live in a duality of world and culture, they experience a sense of ambiguous life. Thus, diaspora discussion inevitably connected to the scope of topics about history, language differences, and mixed culture. These topics contain broad discussions and arguments that provide a lot of beneficial information for the readers.
The work produced by diaspora writers is a great medium to understand the issue related to diaspora as it comes from their own experience. Their absolute understanding toward the phenomenon of being exiled from their motherland makes their writing most relevant to reality. Hence, the majority of their writings are autobiographical or bildungsroman which is the best method to use to provide comprehension with regard to diaspora life journeys. The scope of discussion by diaspora writers generally pivot to the issue around dislocation, nostalgia, concept of home, and identity.
As a foreign community, diasporas are prone to enduring many conflicts regarding their identity. Identity is formed of behaviors, social relationships, roles, and social organizations that define who a person is (Oyserman, Elmore, & Smith, 2012, p. 69). The complexity of being born in one country and currently living in the other oftentimes made them question
their existence as a whole. The term for that issue is known as identity crisis. An identity crisis, according to Erikson, is a period of intense self-reflection and examination of various perspectives on own selves (Erikson, 1963, p. 11). The main cause of the emergence of identity crisis is the feeling that one does not completely feel like they belong anywhere; not their homeland nor their current living place. Diasporas are stuck between two distinct cultures that are inseparable as both of them have significant influence on the formation of the person’s identity.
Majane Satrapi is one of the successful diaspora writers in this era. Through her comics, she portrays her life struggle, family conflict, issues related to Iranian government, and other fundamental elements in her life that directly affect her as a person. Not only did she write the story, but she also drew the graphic of the comics all by herself. Her most famous comic titled Persepolis gained massive attention, and it was then made into a film with the same title and released in 2014. The comic and the film both gained many achievements in the literary industry. Therefore, I then came to the conclusion to use The Complete Persepolis as the object of my research.
The Complete Persepolis is a comic that is classified as an autobiographical bildungsroman which portrayed the life of Marjane from her childhood until her early adulthood. Through the process of growing up, Marjane experienced various struggles which mostly related to her identity. Marjane’s identity continuously evolves and is affected by her closest people, environment, living place, and her life experiences. In each milestone of her life, Marjane almost always indicates a tendency that she has an issue regarding her identity.
That statement is based on the drastic identity change that occurs to Marjane in different stages of her life.
As a child living in Iran, Marjane had trouble expressing herself. Iran is a country with an immensely strict policy that regulates almost every little aspect in women’s life. Marjane is a huge rock, metal and punk music enthusiast, yet she can’t openly express her enthusiasm as the Iran government forbids its citizens to be associated with Western culture in any form.
However, that restriction of freedom does not hold back Marjane to be her true self. She always finds a way to pursue what she is passionate about, even though it comes with dangerous risks. Nevertheless, the Iran government's strict policy incarcerates Marjane’s identity. She is frustrated as she can’t embrace her true identity and is forced to disguise herself as someone that she is not.
Through her period of teenage years, Marjane was forced to leave Iran - her home land - due to an emergency as the Iran-Iraq war deteriorated. She left the country alone to the foreign land of France, leaving all of her family members behind. As a 14 year old, living alone in a foreign country sure does negatively affect her mental clarity. Her status as Iranian diaspora contributes to her difficulty in adapting to the new place. Marjane then attempts to slowly erase her roots in order for her to blend in with the new culture.
Finally, in her early adulthood, Marjane faces the most difficult time of her life. Marjane really misses her family and her homeland. She then decided that this time, she wanted to come back home. After undergoing uttermost confusion to make the decision, she then arrived in Iran, only to feel like it was foreign. She couldn't anymore feel a sense of home in her birthplace. This moment was the peak of her identity crisis as she was frustrated and felt like she belonged nowhere. Furthermore, I will analyze the resolvent of the identity issue using the theory of hybridity.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
In this research, I use a critical textual analysis approach and qualitative method to investigate the comic. According to Silverman, qualitative methods are usually the best way to discover sociological information or the causes of a phenomenon. If the research involves 'what' and 'how' inquiries, then qualitative method is the best to use (Silverman, 2011, p. 25).
The reason is because the researcher can study independently, allowing him or her to delve deeper into the issue raised by the occurrence and to broaden his or her knowledge in areas such as foreign culture, social interactions, and so on. (Creswell, 2014, p. 4). Based on these explanations, it can be concluded that a qualitative method is the best approach to use in
Hybridity Theory
Diaspora often encounter struggle with their identity as more than one culture can define them. Diaspora frequently feels alienated as they feel like they do not belong to the community in their homeland nor their current living place. It is hard for them to feel accepted and fit in in a particular environment as they have no solid cultural stance. They live in constant confusion in defining who they indeed are, as it seems like society expects them only to choose one culture. However, choosing one culture only to represent themselves is impossible for the diaspora. They grow with more than one culture and they are inseparable as all of them have contributed in shaping them as a person. Nevertheless, the diaspora does not need to force themselves to fit into one culture as their current identity is valid. The consolidation of several cultures in diaspora identity is described as hybridity.
The notion of hybridity is considered an essential issue in the discussion of diaspora identity. Hybridity is an evocative term for identity formation; it is used to describe language innovations, code for creativity, and translation (Kalra, 2000, p. 42). Hybridity is a term for a social and cultural phenomena involving mixing in which has become a key concept in cultural criticism and post-colonial theory (Brah & Coombs, 2000, p. 78). In short, it refers to a complex combination of identity during the moment of cultural exchange. In this research, I specify the focus on Homi Bhabha's notion of hybridity and his concept of The Third Space to validate the diaspora's identity.
Hybrid identities, according to Bhabha, exist in any space previously defined in binary terms and support homogenized social identities. As Huddart stated, in the context of cultural identities, hybridity refers to the fact that cultures are not discrete phenomena. Instead, they remain in contact, leading to cultural mixed-ness, even impurity (Huddart, 2005, p. 4).
Therefore, identities are conceptualized as a moving concept, ambivalent, not linear, emergent in a post-colonial space that no longer recognizes a fixed tablet of tradition (Bhabha, 1994, p. 2). Bhabha defines his notion of hybridity in Location of Culture (1994) in terms of the Third Space: "It is that Third Space, though unrepresentable in itself, which constitutes the discursive conditions of enunciation that ensure that the meaning of and symbols of culture have no fixity; that even the same signs can be appropriated, translated, rehistoricised and read anew".
Therefore, the Third Space is an in-between state characterised by translation, negotiation, ambiguity and ambivalence (Bolatgici, 2004, p. 78), where the traditional binaries of culture enter, encounter and transform each other to be transcended and reworked to create new understandings. Huddart (2006) explains that the Third Space enables the introduction of unfamiliar meanings into existing fixed structures to undermine them and introduce newness into the world. It is, however, not solely the fact of cultural difference and blending that creates a possibility for change. However, instead, it is in the act of cultural translation: Designations of cultural difference interpellate forms of identity that are always incomplete or open to cultural translation because of their continual implication in other symbolic systems (Bhabha, 1994, p. 162). Bhabha emphasizes the performativity of these processes of cultural translation. Hybridity's capacity to disrupt existing hegemony is based on the expression of cultural difference rather than the cultural difference itself. By enunciation, he means the act of utterance or expression of culture inside the Third Space;
transgression emerges in the utterance. As a result, this articulation becomes the act of resistance that is important in challenging the fixity of historical hierarchies. Enunciation is the keyword here, which can be rephrased as articulating on one level, or if we put it from a perspective of practice rather than speech or text, we may also add performance (Cornell &
Fahlender, 2007, p. 23). From all these explanations, therefore, the theory of hybridity and the concept of Third Space is used as it is suitable to resolve the identity issue experienced by Marjane Satrapi as a diaspora.
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Prior going into the analysis, Marjane Satrapi’s The Complete Persepolis explores the negotiation of identity of the main character as diaspora. The Complete Persepolis is a comic which classified as autobiographical bildungsroman as it tells the story of the main character – Marjane – from her childhood until her early adulthood. The story depicts her
struggle with identity crisis as she feels like her identity is divided into two influential culture in her life; Iran and France.
The Emergence of Identity Crisis in Marjane as a Diaspora
Since a very young age, Marjane Satrapi has bold personality that always stands out among her peers. She is confident and brave. She is very vocal and never afraid to speak her thoughts, eventhough there is consequences by voicing her opinion. One of the moment that portrayed her personality is when she challenge her teacher’s misleading statement regarding the government. Her teacher is praising the new regime and glorifying on how it is better than the Shah regime. Marjane then confront her teacher by sharing her story of her dearest uncle Anoosh who was sentenced to death by the new regime. That statement can be seen in the picture below.
Picture 1 (142)
After Marjane done with her speech, her classmates cheer up and clapping for Marjane which means that they also share the same opinion towards the regime but Marjane is the only one who is corageous enough to deliver it.
Marjane’s bravery and honesty sure is admirable, but to deliver any opinions uttered against the regime is very dangerous. The new regime is known for its brutality against whoever that opposed to the regime, and the consequences can costs life. That matter leads Marjane’s parents to make a very difficult decision to send Marjane away to Vienna, Austria.
Marjane’s migration to Vienna is the beginning of the emergence of her identity crisis. The night prior to her departure, Marjane sleep with her grandma and this moment is very crucial to her. The sequence of event can be seen in the picture below. Her grandma gives her life advice and reminds her to always be true to herself, this moment is important as the remembrance to her root identity.
Picture 2 (148)
Immediately upon her arrival in Vienna, Marjane experience difficulty in communication because she can’t speak German. In Vienna, Marjane is enrolled in a school that spoke French on a daily basis, in which Marjane is already fluent in the language as she has learned it since she was little. Nevertheless, outside of school when she has to socialize with people around, Marjane experience a hard time because she doesn't have any basic German language. The language barrier makes it even harder for her to adapt to the new environment. That matter can be shown in the picture below when Marjane meet her roommate.
Picture 3 (158)
Adapting to a new environment is not easy, especially not for 14 years old girl like Marjane, who migrate alone all by herself to a foreign country. Adjusting to adolescence phase on its own is already challenging for most as they go through body and hormonal transformation, but Marjane’s problem is multiplied by being diaspora in foreign country while she also still adjusting to adolescence phase. Adaptation stage is one of the hardest things that Marjane had to face as a diaspora. In order to fit in into this foreign environment, Marjane has to sacrifice a lot of things, including her value and root-identity. That matter can be seen on when Marjane try to change her style and behavior into something that she has never done before.
Not long after she arrives in Vienna, she tries to change her style. She cut her long hair into a short punk hairstyle. She also started to use eyeliner to complete the punk look. Her drastic change can be seen in the picture below.
Picture 4 (187)
Her new style does affect her social life. The day she came to school with new haircut, her friend began to call Marjane pretty which has never happen before. The eccentric haircut also draws many attentions from her schoolmates. They thought her hair is cool, thus, people start to come to Marjane for a haircut. She cuts her friends’ hair and earns a little spending money from it. Her new look has made it easier for her to adapt to the new environment. Upon her arrival in her new school, Marjane has always associated with her small group of friends only, and through her new style of look, she can socialize better. That incident is a proof that Marjane as a diaspora has to transform herself to match with western culture in order for her to fit in.
Even though Marjane already has a set group of friends, she is still struggling to keep up with the different lifestyle. Her new friends in Vienna are the complete opposite of her friends in her homeland Iran. They drink alcohol, smoking marijuana, and do drugs which made Marjane feel pressured to do the same thing to be aligned with her friend group.
Picture 5 (189)
Picture 6 (189)
It can be seen on Picture 5 that Marjane clearly emphasized that she is smoking marijuana out of solidarity, not because she has the desire to do it. It is also proven by her statement in Picture 8 that whenever she offered a joint, she immediately remembers her family. Marjane seemingly realize that her effort to adapt has begun to rip apart her sense of identity, yet she can’t stop as she doesn’t have much option. In order to survive, she needs to push away the value that has been taught to her. Marjane then finds a middle ground; she pretends to participate in smoking marijuana but she doesn’t inhale the smoke, and she even pokes her eyes to make it red to be believable as shown in Picture 6. She literally hurt herself only for her to be able to get along with her new friends. From the outside, it looks like Marjane has succeed in adapting to the new place, but deep down in her heart is a battle between her past-self and present-self.
As time goes by, it gets harder for her to stay true to herself. She even managed to deny her nationality when she met new people. There is one time when Marjane met a boy named Marc in a bar and she introduce herself as a French. The reason behind her action is that she feel burdened by her past-identity. Iran was in a middle of war, hence, people at the time preceive Iranian as evil people. Marjane feel burdened by that stereotype, therfore, she don’t want to associate herself with Iran.
After that incident, the words has spread to her schoolmates that she lied about being a French. Marjane is in a restaurant when she overheard her schoolmates gossiping about her. One of the girls said “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she never talks about either her country or her parents…Well, of course! She lies when she said that she’s known war. It’s all to make herself seems interesting.” (Satrapi, 2002, p. 193). That sentence was the one that made Marjane can’t hold herself no longer. She immediately confront her schoolmates and shouting at them as shown in the Picture 7.
Picture 7 (194)
After releasing her anger, Marjane left the restaurant with tears running down her cheek. She feel devastated as her parents are not around to be there for her when she
needed them the most. But her anger and sadness is not staying for long. She has come to a realization that she don’t have to be sad about it. This incident became a crucial moment for her as for the first time since she left home, she finally felt proud of her identity. To shout loudly that she is an Iranian seems to release the pile of emotion that she has been hiding all along. This moment also make her understand her Grandma’s words in which she said if Marjane can’t be comfotrable with herself, she would never be comfortable. Marjane finally feel like she can be comfortable with her root-identity as Iranian.
However, the proud feeling that she feels is not stay for long. The pain that she endure everyday has finally gets the best of her. Many things in her daily life keeps on reminding Marjane that she doesn’t belong to live in Vienna. No matter how much she tried to adapt, there must be at least one point that makes her feel alienated. After living as a diaspora in Vienna for 4 years, Marjane decided that she want to return to her homeland. She has endured so much obstacles, she can’t be strong any longer and badly need to return home.
This is a big decision to make as return to Iran also means that she gave up on her freedom.
It clearly shown in Picture 8 that Marjane is not completely happy to go home.
Picture 8 (242)
For the first time after a long time, Marjane is using veil again. From her expression, it can be seen that she was not amused by it. It reminds her about how restricted it is to live in Iran and being a free-spirited person that she is, it’s going to be hard for her to express herself back in Iran. She is in a dilemma of choosing between her individual liberties or her family and home. Despite of the hard choice, in the end, Marjane decided to return to her homeland Iran.
During the period of Marjane in Vienna, she had complete freedom over herself. There are no laws governing the way she dresses, acts, and thinks. For 4 full years Marjane is able to freely express herself. She cultivates herself into various experiences and enjoys her freedom. Meanwhile, in Iran, the situation is totally the opposite. The moment when Marjane returned to Iran, she was shaken because freedom of expression in this country is only ephemeral. It was already restricted enough before Marjane left the country, but now the laws is even more extreme. Therefore, she must re-adjust herself to the rules set by the government. She also needs time to adjust again to wear the veil wherever she goes.
Picture 9 (249)
Wearing the veil is not the only thing that requires Marjane to adapt again. She also has to adapt to the foreign environment. Iran is no longer a place that she once knows. Iran is changing a lot in the period of 4 years after the last time Marjane step her foot in there.
The change is quite shocking; the new regime sure has internalized in every elements of society and changing the ecosystem of the society. Tehran, Marjane’s hometown, is one of the cities that is most affected by the war. Thus, the aftermath of the war is very obvious. As portrayed in Picture 9, Marjane is taking a stroll around her place for the first time after her arrival and is shocked by what her eyes caught. She intent on reminiscing her past memories by taking a walk, yet she cannot recognize what she sees; the streets are filled with posters presenting martyrs, street names are changed with martyrs’ names, and so on.
The transformation of the environment is overwhelming that makes Marjane cancel her plan and rush to go home. It was too intimidating as she is used to the calm-modern vibe of the streets in Vienna. Once again, she needs to learn to adjust all over again.
Marjane also facing difficulties to socializes with her old friends in Iran. Marjane has done many things that unlikely will be done if she never went to Vienna. When Marjane tell stories about her life in migration to her friends in Iran, they are in disbelief as they viewed the things that Marjane did is extremely inappropriate.
Picture 10 (267)
In the end of the day, Marjane always finds herself alienated from both her friends in Vienna and Iran as her identity is always the opposite of the dominant culture in these countries. In Vienna, her friends view her as innocent and rigid when they know that Marjane are still virgin. Marjane also shocked to know that their peers in Vienna are very open about their sexual life and freely explore their sexuality in a young age. Meanwhile when she returns to Iran, Marjane viewed as wild as she already had sex with multiple men in Vienna which shown in Picture 10 above. It’s as if she can’t find the right environment that matched to her values and experiences, she can ever fit in into either Vienna or Iran.
Day after day passes, along with many incidents that make Marjane feel like she does not belong in Iran. Marjane was having a hard time in Vienna, and she thought that coming back to Iran would make her feel better. That moment can be seen in the picture below.
Picture 11 (265)
She hopes that by returning home, she will forget her past identity when she associates herself with people from French-based backgrounds. That matter is impossible as her past identity is embedded to her present identity. She cannot forget who she was when she was in migration which made it harder for her to move forward with her life. No one in Iran knew who Marjane was when she was in migration. She desperately wanted to share what she had been through as a diaspora, but nobody would seem to understand that. It leads her to feel like she needs to hide her identity, which hurts her inside.
Negotiating Marjane’s Identity
The turning point that actuates Marjane to begin her journey in negotiating her identity is when the important things in her life that she tried to build in Iran are not turned out as what she expected. The first thing that caused Marjane to feel that everything she was trying to do was not working is when Marjane ran an art project that was assigned to her from college, but the art project is rejected as it is not eligible to the regime’s rules (Satrapi, 2002, p. 328). The next incident that greatly affect her is when she realized that her relationship with her husband was no longer can be continued (Satrapi, 2002, p. 335). Her household and her freedom to create art are immensely important for her, and her unsuccessful effort to maintain these two things completely made her devastated.
Picture 12 (324)
The situation is made worse because after several years of returning to Iran, Marjane still continues to feel alienated from the society; it’s as if she is a foreigner and not a part of them. All of these factors are the reason why she could no longer see her future in Iran.
During this moment, Marjane does some contemplation regarding her identity. She evaluates how she feels at the moment by being in Iran. She’s been thinking to move to France since it seems like it’s the middle ground to her problem. It’s a European country near Vienna, which most likely would have similar living condition and would make her easier to adapt as she already has experience. Marjane finally decided that moving out to France is the best choice for her. It is an ideal place to live as the living condition is similar to Vienna in which allows her to have freedom to express herself. In fact, France is a much better choice as she already fluent in French language since she was little. Hence, it’s going to be easier for her to adapt to the environment and won’t have difficulty in communicating with people just like what she did in Vienna because she can’t speak German. She also weighed the pros and cons of living in Iran and France and finally she came to a conclusion: her free-spirited self does not fit in with Iranian environment and society. Therefore, France is the most balance place where Marjane can live her life by being her true self.
Although in the end France became Marjane's new “home”, it doesn't mean that Iran is not significant for her, Iran is just as important. That statement can be proved on when Marjane visit important places from her root-culture and memorize every corner of it before she go and settle in France (Satrapi, 2002, p. 337). Iran sure is remains important for her but it’s not the place where she can grow to her full potential, following her passion and her true personality.
Picture 13 (338)
Another factor that assure Marjane to leave Iran is because this time, she left by her choice. The matter that made it hard for Marjane to left Iran in the past is because she was forced to leave as the war is getting worse. She was also still a teenager and had no idea of how it is to live alone in a foreign country. However, these problems are no longer exist. The war is over, which made her feel relief to left her family in Iran as she knows that they are safe now. She also has experience to live in Europe before, hence, she now is already familiar with the culture and the adaptation process won’t be as challenging as it was. It can be seen in Picture 16 that all of her family rejoice; they happily accompany her to begin her new life journey which put Marjane’s heart at peace. The most important thing is that Marjane now certain that she feels like she is more belong to be in Europe. From all these factors, she is ready to live her new life in France.
Marjane's final decision to move to France signifies that Marjane has negotiated her identity. Marjane has managed to overcome the problem of her identity crisis by evaluating and reflecting on her experience, then using it as a guide to find out who she is and what she really wants for her future. It is an omen that she has accepted that she can never feel whole to live in either Iran or France. Her identity exists in between her root-identity and her new
“home”. Her true identity is the mixture of both cultures. Her acceptance is the most important part to get out of the cycle of feeling like she can’t completely fit in to her homeland or France. She then thinks about the possible options that are available in order for her lo live a better happier life, and Marjane found the answer is to move out of Iran and start a new life in France as a negotiation to her identity.
The phenomenon experienced by Marjane is the negotiation of an identity crisis which is resolved by accepting the third space. It is an “in between” place that resulted from the mixing of her Iran and European identity. By taking the decision to left Iran, she has accepted her hybrid identity and she no longer feels like her identity should be in her birth place, she has acknowledged that her identity is not fixed and determined by the situation.
She has accepted that neither Iran nor Europe can solely represent her identity. Her true identity is the mixture of both, and she already settle to accept her diaspora identity.
4. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
The unit of analysis of this research is The Complete Persepolis comic by Marjane Satrapi. It is a bildungsroman comic that capture the journey of Marjane Satrapi from her childhood until her early adulthood. This research investigates the emergences of Marjane’s identity crisis as a diaspora and analyze how she finally able to negotiate her identity. This research uses qualitative method to investigate the collected data that is related to the research issue. The evidence is presented in a form of pictures that capture the scene sequence related to the discussion.
The research finding shows that the initial cause of the emergence of identity crisis in Marjane is caused by her migration to Vienna. During her 4 years stay in Vienna, she has facing difficulty to communicate with people as she don’t speak German. That matter is became an obstacle for Marjane to adapt with the new environment. Language differences made it harder for her to adjust herself with the foreign society.
Her sense of loss of identity first occurs when she attempt to adapt with the lifestyle of her peers in Vienna that is completely distinct to how it is in Iran. Her root-identity burdened her as it made her feel more alienated. That issue is heavily affecting her to the point that she even try to lie about her nationality being French, she is too ashamed to admit that she is Iranian. However, no matter how hard she tries to fit in, she always feels alienated. She feels like an outsider that doesn’t belong to live in there for long.
After long consideration, she finally returns home to Iran, only to find out that she no longer can sense that Iran is her “home”. She returns home intended to feel like she belong somewhere and accepted, yet it’s not turned out as she expected it to be. She is stunned by how 4 years can transform Iran to a very distinct place than the one she once know. In Iran there are too many restrictions and regulations that limit Marjane from being able to express her true self. She also feels like her personality and passion is more matched to the culture in European society which offers her freedom of choice over her life. Marjane is stuck
on the formation of her identity. The negotiation of her identity begins when she has accepted that she can’t completely feel whole in either Iran or Europe. In addition, the process of her identity negotiation influenced by both her environment and her own self. Her desire to seek for freedom is definitely more matched with the society environment in Europe rather than in Iran. The research also showed that identity is fluid and it can change from the influence of environment and culture that support the person’s desire. Her identity can be called as the third space which means the mixture of her root-identity and her new home.
She no longer tries to convince herself that her identity should be in her birthplace. She acknowledges that her identity as a diaspora is not fixed and it can transform. Through her migration to France, Marjane has negotiated her identity and accept her in-between identity which resulted from the cultural exchange of her root and new home.
Marjane Satrapi’s The Complete Persepolis contains many interesting themes that can be investigated by various theories. My suggestion is that one of the issues in the comic can be explored through feminism and combined with hegemony and domination theory. That theory can be used to identify how the new regime of Iran succeeds in taking full controls of women in terms of how they act, wear, or think. Then, the feminism can be used to identify the kinds of resistances of women against the regime’s rules.
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